Vaccines Against West Nile Virus

Abstract

Despite the availability of two veterinary vaccines against West Nile virus (WNV), there remains a desperate need for a more efficient, safer, cheaper WNV vaccine that can be delivered conveniently to animals. The global threat of WNV epidemics with increasingly severe neuroinvasive infections makes this need even more urgent. To date, vaccine candidates based on inactivated, live-attenuated, or chimeric virus, and viral DNA and protein subunits have been developed. However, commercialization of a WNV veterinary vaccine may largely depend on the economics of vaccine production, as only novel low-cost production platforms would produce vaccines that outcompete the cost of clinical treatment for animals. In this chapter, we review the progress of using plants to develop effective WNV vaccines and address the economic challenges of WNV vaccine production. The status of current WNV vaccine development is summarized. The advantages of plant-based platforms for WNV vaccine production in cost, speed and scalability are briefly discussed. The progress in developing WNV subunit vaccines in plants is reviewed within the context of their expression, characterization, downstream processing, and potency in animal models. The development of WNV vaccines based on virus-like particles is also highlighted. We are confident that plants are one of the platforms that offer potent, safe and affordable veterinary vaccines against WNV.

Notes

Acknowledgements

The authors thank the current and past members of the Chen laboratory, especially Dr. J. He, H. Lai, J. Hurtado, M. Yang, and L. Peng for the data presented in this chapter. The contribution of numerous undergraduate students to the WNV project is also greatly appreciated. We also thank C. Jugler for the critical reading of the chapter. The research relevant to this chapter in the authors’ laboratory was supported in part by NIAID grants number U01 AI075549 and R21/R33 AI101329 to Q. Chen.

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